Despite claims that age-assurance methods for those younger than 18 are insufficient and inaccurate, that's not the case, the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said in a white paper Tuesday. Age verification methods are just as accurate for minors as they are for adults, the organization argued.
TikTok doubled down on a dismissal motion in a case against it that alleges the social media platform violated consumer protection and product-liability laws.
Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D) doesn’t believe tech industry opposition can stop his bill to set civil penalties for big social media platforms that breach their “responsibility of ordinary care and skill” to children under 18, he said at an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. Also, Lowenthal disagreed with concerns that AB-2, moving in the Assembly after a court blocked California’s age-appropriate design code (see 2503140063), could lead to more litigation.
In a lengthy hearing Tuesday in front of Vermont's House Commerce and Economic Committee, lawmakers weighed testimony from concerned parents, youth and other advocates of a kids code bill. However, the tech industry opposed the bill for privacy and First Amendment reasons.
The House Commerce Committee on Tuesday passed the Take It Down Act on a 49-1 vote. Democrats failed to attach the Kids Online Safety Act and language that would restore two fired Democratic commissioners at the FTC.
Two social media safety bills are advancing in the Arkansas legislature after a court recently blocked the state’s 2023 age-verification law. Meanwhile, as many states consider age-verification bills aimed at protecting kids’ privacy online (see 2503060022), a social media age-assurance bill passed Montana's House Friday.
Compliance with EU data protection principles is the first step toward ensuring that minors aren't exposed to harmful content online, European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiorowski said Monday. Age assurance or verification is also important, but it shouldn't entirely block children from accessing some content, speakers said at the European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) meeting.
Recent rulings in litigation over the constitutionality of laws aiming to protect children online will serve as examples for other states' future attempts to regulate the area of what works and what doesn't, said Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, IAPP managing director for Washington, D.C., in a blog post Friday.
Congress should craft and approve a federal privacy law, which can then be used to address online harms to children, Family Online Safety Institute CEO Stephen Balkam said Wednesday at a Broadband Breakfast event.
NetChoice urged the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee Tuesday to follow the recent decision in NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin and grant a preliminary injunction against a law requiring age verification before accessing social media accounts (see 2504010044).